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App store review sorting
- Thread starter oodi
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
There's no way to know for sure. If I had to guess, at least from my own programming perspective, it would be based on the which version the user has, how close their rating is to the average, and also the date & time. Find the right mix between these factors and perhaps that's one out of several other ways you could make it work.
It's sorted by Current Version and All Versions (tabs to select either option)
And then it's sorted by date, oldest to newest (oldest on top)
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No its not sorted by date. You can see it yourself if you scroll through reviews of an app having over 10-15 comments.
In the example of Facebook (that I had on the screenshot) it IS sorted by date for Current Version. (Has all the March 3rd reviews first, then the March 4th reviews, and then March 5th reviews. Over 30 reviews.)
For All Versions, you would be correct. All Version tab seems to be a mix bag. Probably because it would be tens of thousands of reviews dating all the way back from 2008 to 2016. So they "picked" a percent and mixed the years together because who wants to scroll through 8 years of reviews. You get a better "idea" getting a mix of reviews from all 8 years.
Perhaps it shows up coincidentally like that for Facebook, but looking at some other apps, like let's say WhatsApp, it seems like some random March 5th reviews are sprinkled among March 4th reviews (just based on a quick glance for the current version reviews there).
Only two reviews for the Current Version in Whatsapp. Canadian App Store.
I've checked a few other apps. The game Lara Croft Go. 126 reviews for the Current Version. All of them perfectly in order of oldest to newest. (Oldest November 26th to latest review made March 1st)
All Versions tab remains a mix bag.
Not sure about the Canadian App Store but in the US one (and this is on the iPhone since iPad and iPhone differ when it comes to some parts of the App Store) there are 108 reviews for current version and certainly more recent reviews will get sprinkled with some older ones, which shows that the sorting by date isn't really there or isn't working correctly. Looked at Facebook too which has 717 reviews for current version and the first 10 already have reviews from March 3rd, 4th, and 5th appearing in different order.
Checked a few more and keep finding it consistent that Current Version tab is oldest to newest.
Strange the Canadian App Store would have better sorting.
Perhaps there is a threshold of say 500 or so reviews before it gets mixed? (so you get a wider view instead of having to scroll through hundreds of reviews.)
Seems like those with a lot or with a few reviews are the same. Here's an example of the first few reviews for the current version of Dropbox (for which there are 31 reviews so far), as you can see it goes from March 1st to 2nd back to 1st and then 3rd.
All Versions are partly sorted according to how many users flagged them as helpful, via iTunes. The problem is that on the phone, with no sort options, you have no way of knowing that. So if there's nothing under Current Version, you see under All Versions stuff like "Crashes on iPhone3G!" at the top and think WTF…then have to scroll down a mile to find anything recent.
I sent them feedback about this once, I suggest you do the same. That's probably the only way it'll ever change.
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Definitely strange then that the Canadian App Store would be better organized (cleaner sorting)
Must be all those taxes you pay there.
$1289.00 for a 128gb 6s+ Before tax.
We pay more for everything. But hey, at least our Current Version reviews in the App Store are properly sorted by date!
I explained it above. I'm not from Apple, but… open an app page in iTunes, then under All Versions you will see that the default sorting is "Most Helpful." That's the order you get on the phone.
If it annoys you, complain: apple.com/feedback
Does that apply to current version feedback as well, given that often it's not even likely many or any of those would have been marked as helpful or anything like that.
Sorry, I don't know. My best guess is, maybe it takes into account the time between download and posting of review (longer being better).
I do hate it that I cannot sort on date new > older date (Most recent) on my iPhone for reviews but I can on my iPad.
There I do have the options to choose between 'Most Helpful', Most positive, Most negative and Most recent.